Town Hall Meeting Addresses Concerns In Lauderhill And State

September 9, 2009|TESSA METAYER tmetayer@tribune.com

The city of Lauderhill marked the first of September with a town hall meeting. The event, at the Environ Cultural Center, was an opportunity for local and state staff to discuss with residents important city happenings, information on legislation and to answer questions.

State Sen. Jeremy Ring highlighted to attendees three issues regarding the state: drilling oil off the Atlantic coast, expanding the Coconut Creek casino and the condo association crisis. "It will take 20 years for us to get out of oil," said Ring, who is for drilling in the state.

When it comes to expanding the casino, Ring said that the $150 million payout from the Seminole Tribe is a loss to the state when the state earns more than that. He also felt that expanding the casino in open terrain areas in northern Florida would serve the state better than putting the casino "in our own backyard."

Ring went on to discuss the condo association crisis. Delinquent owners are leaving their neighbors having to cover the cost of their residence. "It's an issue we are extremely aware of," Ring said. He added that he is optimistic that last year's bills (S0998 and S0998C1) will pass, making delinquent condo owners lose amenities for delinquent payments and forcing banks to pay the cost of foreclosed homes. For the association at Environ Phase II, the meeting was an opportunity to address and find some answers to an issue plaguing their residence. The condominiums, which are near the west course of the Inverrary Golf Course have been purchased from an outside developer who is looking to turn some of the course into town homes. According to the president of the association, Doug Crumpler, for that to happen, there would have to be a 66 percent approval vote by the association.

"We stand to lose the culture of our community," Crumpler said. From the city's standpoint, they are unaware of any purchase of the golf course and are optimistic that the golf course will remain intact.

"Special elections are expensive; last I heard they cost up to $150,000 to run. Plus they would have to get a two-thirds vote," said Earl Hahn, planning and zoning director for the city of Lauderhill.

On the local front, Commissioner M. Margaret Bates took the time to talk about the 2010 Census. The commissioner pointed out that many do not participate in the survey in the fear that their information is shared or relayed to the federal government. She assured the public that the responses to the survey are not relayed to any agency except numbers to calculate populations and encouraged attendees to spread that message. Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan highlighted the initiatives the city has taken in order to be more energy efficient and save residents money on their electric bill. "For every dollar we can save is one less dollar we can tax our residents," Kaplan said.

Some of the initiatives include creating a LEED-certified building along with providing residents with a compact florescent bulb (CFL) which uses 75 percent less energy than regular bulbs and lasts longer.

Commissioner Howard Berger concluded the meeting pointing out the city's accomplishments to save money, such as the city's four-day work week, the reduction of revenue neutral special events and the consolidation of several departments. Berger went on to highlight the city's biggest projects, the new city hall and the construction of a performing arts center at Central Broward Regional.